Reawakening

Interactive images are used to stimulate a patient at coma rehabilitation clinic Istituto Sant'Anna. In the past 18 years, the southern Italian institute has helped 1,200 people emerge from comas. It is a rare world class medical centre in one of Europe's poorest regions.

Quality of health care in Calabria is among the worst in Italy; infant mortality is the highest in the country. More patients from Calabria than from any other region seek treatment elsewhere, according to the health ministry.

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

When Sant'Anna was founded in 1996, Giuliano Dolce, one of Italy's foremost neurologists and an international expert on coma reawakenings, was lured out of retirement.

"People used to believe a coma patient was completely cut off from the world, but we realised it's not like that," says Dolce, who at 86 cuts a striking figure with his white hair and blue eyes.

17 Dec 2014. COSENZA, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Giovannina Caprara, 49, is cared for at home by her daughter Maria Teresa and husband Domenico, while doctors supervise from Sant'Anna 40 miles away.

Caprara, in a state that Dolce describes as "unresponsive wakeful system," sits in a wheelchair in her cottage adorned with pictures of saints, and she sometimes seems to smile and laugh.

"We've been very lucky, the clinic has been wonderful," Maria Teresa, 30, said, adding that her mother makes small improvements. She has taken her to mass, into the countryside and to a wedding.

"The doctors stop us building false hopes," she said. “I have always been happy with anything mum could give me."

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Under pressure to curb the euro zone's second-largest public debt, successive Italian governments have slashed funding for regions. Sant'Anna, whose success rate in reawakening people from coma is nearly 20 percent higher than the Italian average, faces similar cuts as any other hospital in Calabria.

When an inter-city bus smashed into Caprara's car five years ago, she was fortunate to be admitted to Sant’Anna. In future, others may not be so lucky.

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Slideshow

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

A coma patient lies in a bed at Sant'Anna hospital.

3 Mar 2015. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

A coma patient has his brain parameters checked to understand when he is ready to be stimulated.

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

A patient is manually stimulated.

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

A patient embraces his mother whom he now recognizes. He was in a coma for four and half years following a motorbike accident and awakened a few months ago.

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

A robot is attached to a patient's arm as part of a rehabilitation programme.

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Interactive images are used to stimulate patients at Sant'Anna hospital.

16 Dec 2014. CROTONE, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

A doctor studies a patient’s walking after applying remote sensors to his body.

17 Dec 2014. COSENZA, Italy. REUTERS/Max Rossi

Giovannina Caprara, a coma patient, sits in a wheelchair at her home while her husband stokes the fire.